Living in a 'war zone'

Living in a countryside of closed roads, burning carcasses, and hard-hit businesses is no picnic

Foot-and-mouth disease is not only wrecking economic havoc it is devastating the day-to-day lives of those living in its midst.

BBC News Online users living in affected areas have spelt out the hardships facing them in a number of e-mails.

Families are separated, businesses face ruin, and farmers are seing generations of work put in jeopardy.

It is like living in a war zone, say Andy and Jane Davis.

My life has been torn apart. We don't just farm for profit. We love working with animals and being in the countryside

Robert Smith
Farmer

They live with their children on a large country estate in Devon where their day-to-day routine is in turmoil thanks to movement restrictions.

"There are no birthday parties, no youth club, no after-school activities," they tell BBC News Online.

"It's like living in a war zone except instead of being shot at we are waiting to see what bright idea this government comes up with next."

News reports simply cannot convey the true horror of living in the midst of the disease, the sight and smell of the funeral pyres each burning hundreds of carcasses, they say.

Farmer and father-of-four Robert Smith has endured the personal horror of seeing all his animals shot and burned.

Movement restrictions are keeping families apart

"My life has been torn apart.

"We don't just farm for profit. We love working with animals and being in the countryside."

Spring was usually the best time of the year, he said, but now he lived in fear for his family's future.

Single parent

Chris Freeman, a dairy farmer and single parent, is forcibly separated from a daughter and son.

In fact Chris has seen little of the outside world having not left the farm for four weeks.

"No one who is non-urgent comes onto the farm."

Chris' daughter is studying for her A-levels so lives with family friends so she can continue going to school.

Chris' son works on a farm where 3,500 pigs were slaughtered. He has not been able to return home for four weeks.

Missing husband

While farmers bear the brunt of the disease, many others have told BBC News Online of the unexpected ways their own lives are being effected.

Deborah Ryan has not seen or heard from her husband, a slaughterman working with Maff, since 20 March.

"I am used to him disappearing in relation to his work but normally would have heard from him now," she told BBC News Online.

"Maff has been contacted but to date not information has been forthcoming."

The self-employed have been particularly hard hit.

Business 'stone dead'

Saddler John Malone, of Scotland, has seen his business "virtually wiped out" and said if it was not for a small private pension he would be "out on the streets" along with his wife and two children.

Robert Duncan has run a small drystone walling business in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, for 12 years.

"This crisis has effectively killed it stone dead," he said.

"I can't claim any kind of benefits because I am self-employed and the bank refuses to extend my overdraft.

"I don't know what to do."

Some visitor attractions are open but tourists are staying away

And John, who lives with his wife and three children in Powys, Wales, is losing nearly £500 a month.

The couple rent out holiday cottages to supplement their income, but all the bookings are being cancelled and no new ones are forthcoming.

Yet the bills must still be paid.

"The banks are not at all sympathetic. The DSS can do nothing, and local work is drying up.

"If it carries on we will be in danger of losing our home."